Personal musings on Israel, Jewish matters, history and how they all affect each other

Monday, December 7, 2009

House (non)Demolitions

I can't tell you what the reason for this whole charade is, but hundreds of Palestinians have figured out that if they're served a demolition order on their house, they need to file a petition to the High Court of Justice (Bagatz), where they'll get an immediate, automatic injunction prohibiting the state to carry out the demolition order. Then, in most cases, the lawyers at the Attorney-General's office don't even take the time to respond to the injunction, essentially leaving it in place. When queried recently about this practice, the Attorney General's office explained that since the houses won't be demolished, it's a waste of their time to write responses for the court.

The real story behind the story is the fact - well-known to the well-informed, never mentioned by everyone else - that for all the fact that the Palestinians of the occupied territories are not Israeli citizens, ever since they came under Israeli rule they've had free access to the entire Israeli legal system including the High Court of Justice. This is the result of a conscious decision of the Israeli government made back in 1967.

Yet ICAHD - Israeli Committee against house demolitions - gets millions annually from European countries to help fight just that - house demolitions. If the Attorney General office never bothers to prosecute, what is ICAHD doing that is worth that much money?